


Until the Sky Falls Down on Me

by crazygirlne



Series: Snowells Week 2019 [1]
Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: F/M, Time Loop
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-17
Updated: 2019-06-17
Packaged: 2020-05-13 16:32:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,984
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19254961
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/crazygirlne/pseuds/crazygirlne
Summary: When Caitlin's day starts resetting, she turns to Harry for help.





	Until the Sky Falls Down on Me

**Author's Note:**

> Canon Divergent. Changes should be easy to follow. We have E2 Harrison Wells. Fluff and romance, nothing serious, so don’t look too hard at the plot. Assume most of the horribly traumatic stuff never happened, except what came before the show started. 
> 
> I'll be posting up to 7 stories this week for [Snowells week](https://snowellsweek.tumblr.com/), all set in the same verse and in chronological order, but each story should stand alone fine. I started working on these early and got a few done before life hit, and I do have all 7 planned, but I'm working on NOT stressing over things that are supposed to be fun, so I'll either finish writing and post all 7 or I'll only post what I've written. Either way, I hope you enjoy!

Caitlin should have known, really. They’ve dealt with so much on Team Flash, it was only a matter of time before she got stuck in a time loop.

She’s not sure whether it’s better or worse that it’s a relative handful of hours from the start of the loop to its finish. On the plus side, it makes it easier to spot, since she tries to leave Star Labs at the end of the day only to walk in again, morning coffees still warm in the drink tray she’s carrying, clothing what she was wearing when she came to work. She hesitates a beat, looking outside at the morning sun before making her way into the Cortex, ready to react to whatever has hijacked her day.

Nothing seems out of place. Cisco is ranting at Harry, whose eyes glitter with poorly hidden amusement as he glances her way. Instead of the welcoming nod she remembers from that morning, Harry sees something in her face that makes him pause. He raises an eyebrow as if to ask what’s wrong, and she shakes her head ever-so-slightly as she moves to the desk where she can set down the coffees. She snags hers and takes a sip, the warm liquid at just the right temperature. Caitlin scans the room, looking for anything to explain why she’s re-started her day, but there’s nothing at all unusual.

At least, there’s nothing unusual until Harry comes and stands a bit closer than he normally does, almost brushing against her as he reaches for his own drink. 

“Everything alright, Snow?” he murmurs, ignoring Cisco’s loud complaints about new security measures.

The warmth in her stomach isn’t  _ entirely _ from the coffee, perhaps, but Caitlin is used to ignoring Harry’s effect on her, and besides, she’s distracted.

“I’m not sure,” she says honestly. “Something strange is going on, but I haven’t figured out whether it’s in my head or not. It’s only been a few minutes. I don’t think there’s any immediate danger,” she adds before he can get too concerned. “I just need to figure out whether I’m imagining things.”

Caitlin frowns as she remembers more of her day. Nothing particularly extraordinary happened, but—

She grabs the half-empty cup holder and pulls it to her just as Barry zooms into the room, coming to a stop with his hands planted right where the coffees had been just a second earlier.

Harry’s eyes rest on Caitlin for a long moment before moving to a sheepish Barry.

“Allen,” he says, “you have super speed. How do you still manage to almost knock things over?”

“Talent?” Barry responds, rubbing the back of his neck before neatly grabbing the last two coffees with a grateful nod to Caitlin and joining Cisco at the computer. “What’ve we got today?”

Harry catches Caitlin’s eyes and nods toward her attached lab. She sets down the empty tray, takes another sip of her coffee, and makes her way to her lab, Harry right behind her. Once the door is closed, sound mostly blocked even though the glass walls make it easy to watch the guys talking to each other animatedly, he fixes her with his most intense stare.

“Are you prescient now, along with your frost powers?”

Caitlin considers, then shakes her head. “Time loop, I think.” Harry’s expression doesn’t change as he lets her mentally retrace her day. “I was leaving for the day, and then my day started all over.” She looks down at her dress. “I was wearing this outfit again and carrying fresh coffee. The first time, Barry spilled some on me and I had to change.”

Harry nods, clearly thinking just as hard as she is. “Just you?”

She shrugs a shoulder, then nods. “As far as I can tell. Nobody else is acting strange.” She frowns. “I have no idea what’s triggering it, though. It was an uneventful day. Almost boring, even. I was leaving early because nothing was going on.”

“When did the reset happen?”

“As soon as I got to the parking lot. I’m not sure exactly what time.” Caitlin feels another rush of warmth as she realizes how close Harry is and how intently he’s watching her. She takes a step back, the move automatic. Her attraction to him started before she was ready to try moving on from Ronnie, and she knows Harry doesn’t feel anything romantic for her, so it’s best to ignore it. She goes to take a sip of her coffee, and in an uncharacteristic show of clumsiness, she spills some down the front of her pale dress. Somehow, despite being caused by entirely different circumstances, the stain is identical to the one from Barry’s mishap her first time through the day.

Caitlin sighs, sets down her cup, and meets Harry’s eyes again. He looks fascinated.

“That happened to you earlier?” he confirms. “The same incident, in different ways?” At her nod, he murmurs something about time wanting to happen, then he walks to her drawing board and starts writing down theories. 

Caitlin pulls at the damp cloth of her dress ineffectually. “I need to change,” she says. Harry nods absently, supremely focused on his notes. Caitlin wrinkles her nose as she goes to grab the Star Labs sweatshirt and pants she keeps handy. They’re finally usually, but she was so hot in them yesterday— This morning— 

Whenever.

“I’ve got another dress in my car,” she says as she remembers it. Barry and Cisco barely notice as she cuts back through the Cortex and heads toward the parking lot. She opens the door, takes a step outside…

...and walks back in, dress dry and coffees in hand. “Well,” she murmurs to herself, “that’s one way to change clothes.” She works through what’s happening as she makes her way back toward the others. Cisco’s voice rings out again as she reaches the room.

“I just don’t understand why we had to add another layer of security. I mean, it’s not like anything we’ve tried has actually stopped anyone from getting in. Ever.”

“That’s exactly  _ why _ we need more security, Cisco.” Harry sounds so put out that Caitlin can’t quite help smiling at his tone, despite everything.

It puts her in a better mood, so she’s not as troubled when she walks into the Cortex this time, but she’s more sure of what’s going on, so instead of keeping anything to herself, she sets the coffees down with enough of a flourish that both Harry and Cisco stop their bickering to look her way. She crosses her arms.

“I’m stuck in a location-based time loop,” she says. “Take your coffee before Barry spills it on me.” Caitlin backs away from the drinks, not really feeling like wearing them again if she can avoid it. 

There’s silence for several seconds, Cisco watching her with growing skepticism and Harry with his usual focused concern.

“You’re messing with us, right?” Cisco says. “There’s no way we’re stuck in a time loop. And a location-based one? What even is that?”

“If I leave the building, everything resets to when I showed up this morning. None of you remember anything about today, right?” 

Harry shakes his head while Cisco just stares. Caitlin presses her lips together, because really, she’s earned the benefit of the doubt, and it’s not like it’s the strangest thing they’ve ever dealt with here. Before she can say more, there’s the familiar whoosh of Barry entering the room, disturbing the coffees as he stops at the desk. One of the coffees flies out at just the right (or wrong) angle and manages to splash her dress from a few feet away.

Caitlin doesn’t even bother looking down, knowing she’ll find the already-familiar stain.

“Shit,” Barry says, “I’m sorry.” He grabs her some paper towels before realizing everyone is acting strange. “What’s going on?”

“Time loop,” Caitlin says before meeting Harry’s eyes. “Any ideas?”

“Don’t leave the building until we figure it out?” Harry suggests, and Caitlin feels some of her ire wash away at his dry humor.

“No shit, Sherlock.” She looks at Barry and Cisco now. “Anything? Anyone?”

Cisco shakes his head. “I’ll run a few scans and check for anything unusual, any meta activity or anything, but until we know what’s going on exactly, I’m not sure how much I’ll be able to help.” He pauses, considering. “I can probably vibe some of what you already lived through.”

Caitlin shakes her head, remembering how strongly she’s been feeling her attraction to Harry. Cisco seeing that has to be a last resort. “I don’t think that’ll help, but we’ll keep it in mind.”

Harry walks closer to her, resting a hand on her shoulder, sending comforting tingles through her.

“We’ll figure it out,” Harry says, confident, and Caitlin’s breath catches as she nods. Harry watches her for a second before visibly switching into wise-leader mode. “Cisco, run those scans. Barry, go see whether there’s anything else strange going on anywhere in the building or in the rest of Central City. Caitlin, run what tests you can to make sure there’s not any damage being done to your system. I’ll start work on your drawing board so I’m there if you need a hand with any tests.”

The plan of action makes Caitlin feel better. Between the four of them, they’ll figure something out, she’s sure of it.

***

“Nothing.” Harry sounds more frustrated than she is. It’s late, definitely well after the time she tried to leave the building her first time through the day. “Nothing on any of Cisco’s scans, nothing from Barry’s recon, nothing unusual on your tests, and no ideas from me that make any sense.”

“We’ll figure it out,” Caitlin says, echoing his earlier words, though she’s less than sure of them. “Maybe I just have to make it through the day without leaving.” She sits on the couch at the edge of the room, relaxing with a sigh. “I’ll go to sleep here and wake up and tomorrow will actually be tomorrow.”

“That would be a simple enough fix.” Harry sounds skeptical. He eyes his board again as if he might catch patterns he hasn’t yet, then takes off his glasses, pinching the bridge of his nose before putting the eyewear on the table and joining her on the couch.

“You don’t think it’ll happen, though.” It’s not really a question, the answer already in his eyes.

“No, I don’t.”

“Alright.” It’s quiet, only the two of them in her lab, and Caitlin feels the day catching up with her. “Then tell me what you’ve ruled out so you don’t have to start from scratch if the day resets.”

He goes through his theories, the ones that make no sense and the ones they have no way to test or fix, and she repeats them back until she’s sure she’s got it. She’s feeling tired and discouraged, and she thinks she might cry if she were here alone, but she’s not, she—

Caitlin blinks as Harry rests his hand on top of hers on the couch between them. When she doesn’t pull away, he squeezes her hand reassuringly. 

“We’ll get there,” he says, a thread of steel in his voice. “I won’t sleep until we figure it out. We’ve still got so much more we can try, too, though it’s up to you how many times you want to start this day all over again. We can see what happens if you leave the building with someone, through different exits, through one of Cisco’s portals. We can see what time it resets if nothing else triggers it. We’ll get there.”

“Thank you,” she whispers, closing her eyes. She focuses on the feel of his hand, flips hers over so she can return the pressure, and she feels much less alone as she sinks into something resembling sleep.

When she opens her eyes, she’s walking into Star Labs.

Caitlin murmurs a few choice curse words, then carries the damned coffees into the Cortex, her hand still warm from Harry’s touch. She interrupts Cisco’s rant to ask Harry to join her in her lab. Cisco and Barry hadn’t been any help last time, and she doesn’t want to worry them if she doesn’t have to. Harry’s the one whose knowledge base is the most likely to help solve this. She gets right to it, unspeakably grateful that Harry has never once demanded proof of her claims, and she doesn’t react at all when he stumbles and spills some of his coffee on her dress. She tells him where they left off, and he decides to try to work through a few more theories before they start intentionally resetting the day.

“I know you said you ran tests already,” he explains, “but I can’t help but worry about the stress of it on you, especially if you can’t sleep.”

Caitlin does feel tired, not physically, but mentally, and she nods. She spends the day helping him talk through theories, but they end the day the same as last time, at a loss and on the couch together. He reaches for her hand again, and again she takes comfort in it.

At least, she does until Cisco comes barging in.

“Harry, I really don’t like this new— Since when do you two hold hands? Are you  _ dating? _ ”

Harry’s negative is almost insultingly quick, and Caitlin tells herself it doesn’t bother her and that he’s always quick when it comes to his banter with Cisco.

She still feels a lot better when he takes her hand again almost the second Cisco leaves.

“Let’s try keeping you awake,” he suggests. “You haven’t tried that yet, right?”

They pull up Netflix on her computer and watch from the couch, laughing at bad dialogue and worse science. Sometime around midnight, Caitlin looks over to find Harry watching her, wearing one of the soft smiles he usually reserves for his daughter. When she licks her lips, Harry’s eyes flick to the movement and then away. Caitlin takes a breath, blinks...

...and is standing just inside Star Labs, holding coffee.

So much for the staying awake test. The day must reset at midnight if she doesn’t trigger it before then. She takes a few minutes to get her bearings. That last moment on the couch with Harry had felt like it had potential to be something important, and she’s not entirely sure how they got there. He’s not remembering any of the resets, not changing day to day, so if they’re getting closer each day, then logically, it’s because of Caitlin’s own changes, right?

When she finds herself wondering whether maybe Harry does have romantic interest in her, after all, she shakes her head and makes her way to the Cortex, ready to start this never-ending day again. 

The resets start blending together, after that. Each day, she lets Harry know what they’ve covered, and each day, they figure out and dismiss new theories. Sometimes she has Cisco and Barry help, but it’s often just her and Harry, and the more she watches him, the more she wishes they could move beyond this day, because it feels like maybe…

Maybe they can have some sort of future together, if tomorrow ever gets here.

They try resets until she’s too tired to think straight, until she’s had coffee spilled on her more ways than she ever thought possible. After another long day of theories, Caitlin and Harry are once again sitting next to each other. Harry hasn’t taken her hand yet (he does, every time, unless she does something to prevent it) (she doesn’t prevent it), but he’s watching her intently, and Caitlin feels exposed.

She’s also feeling a little desperate.

“I’m gonna be stuck in this day forever,” she complains. “This stupid day, where nothing ever happens. We’ve tried everything that makes sense and plenty things that don’t.” She chuckles, no humor in it, and Harry finally takes her hand, rubbing a thumb comfortingly across her skin. “Maybe I should think less like scientist and more like a script writer,” she says, running through all the time loop media she’s ever consumed. “Maybe I have to get someone to fall in love with me or something.”

Harry’s movement stops, and Caitlin turns to look at him, but he won’t meet her eyes. “That’s not it.” He sounds completely certain.

It pisses Caitlin off. If they give up, he’s not the one stuck reliving this day, not consciously. “How do you know?” she demands. “I mean, I hope you’re right, because I don’t know how the hell I’m supposed to make someone fall in love with me in one day when I can’t even leave this building, but I’m completely out of ideas here.”

“There’s already someone here in love with you, so that wouldn’t change anything.” Harry lets go of her hand and stands abruptly. He stalks over to the drawing board and starts scribbling notes, muttering to himself while Caitlin gapes at his back.

“Harry?” He doesn’t respond, just keeps working, and Caitlin stands, feeling nothing of her previous anger, only realization and hope.

Realization that in the course of living this day over and over, seeing how earnestly he tries to help and how deeply he cares, seeing his humor and his sarcasm, Caitlin has shifted to being absently attracted to a friend and colleague to caring deeply for the person she’s closest to.

Hope because if she understood him right, he feels the same and didn’t even need to be caught in a time loop to figure it out.

She walks over to him and takes his free hand in hers, watching as his writing slows to a stop. He sighs almost imperceptibly, then looks at their joined hands.

“What did you mean, Harry?” Caitlin prompts.

It feels like time crawls as she watches the internal argument on Harry’s face, and then finally he lifts his eyes to meet hers. His are bright and focused, and if she thought she’d seen him look intense before, she was so wrong.

“I mean,” he says, “that you are brilliant and beautiful and kind, and you’re stronger than anyone I know.” He takes a breath as she struggles to swallow properly. “I mean,” he continues, voice dropping lower, each word deliberate, “that it would be impossible to avoid falling in love with you, and that I don’t need today in order to make that difference.”

“You love me?” It’s nearly a whisper, and Harry nods once, quick.

“I love you, Caitlin. I have for a long time.”

Caitlin presses her lips to his before she can talk herself out of it, and the rush of heat is more than she’s felt in years, and Harry instantly responds, pulling her close and kissing her so thoroughly that she’s panting by time they pull apart.

She kisses him once more, chaste, before letting go and stepping back.

“I need to focus,” she says, staring hard at the drawing board. “I need to focus because I want to be able to keep doing that, and if the day keeps resetting, it makes it a lot harder.”

Harry sounds amused when he replies, with an extra rumble to his voice that tells her he’s still recovering from their kiss. “Believe me, Caitlin, if you walk in tomorrow and plant one on me, I’m not going to object.” He pauses ever-so-briefly. “I’m already in love with you before the day starts, remember?”

Caitlin looks at him, feeling tears prick at her eyes. “That’s exactly why we need to figure this out. As hard as this day has been, if you start forgetting that you’ve told me how you feel, or that I feel the same, it goes from hard to impossible.”

“You feel the same?” He looks amazed, and she can’t help but press another kiss to his lips.

“I’ll tell you once I’m sure you’ll remember.” Caitlin caresses his face, then turns to the board again, with purpose. “Now. Where do we start?”

“Walk me through your day,” he says. “Tell me every detail, from the very beginning.”

“I’m standing just inside the door, holding coffees,” she says. “I walk into the Cortex where Cisco’s bitching about the security system, and—”

“The security system!” Harry’s using the tone he does when he’s onto something, and Caitlin can’t help the renewal of hope coursing through her. “I can’t believe I didn’t consider it earlier, except it’s not supposed to work that way.” He races to her computer, typing furiously, then freezes as the display changes:

_ Security system online. Runtime 1276 hrs, 53 minutes. No problems detected. _

“I turned this on this morning,” he says. “It must have gone live the same time you walked into the building.” He looks at her, as troubled as she’s ever seen him. “I got you stuck here for almost two months because I used some quasi-speed force tech I obviously didn’t understand as well as I thought.”

Caitlin looks at the computer, then back at him. “You can get me unstuck?”

He nods. “It must have latched on to you because you were the first to enter the building. I programmed it to hold any intruders, and it was apparently impossibly creative in its holding methods.” He taps a sequence into the computer.

_ Security system disabled. Resuming normal operations. _

Caitlin exhales. “That was rather anticlimactic.”

“I’m so sorry, Caitlin.” Harry won’t look at her, not until she gently turns his head toward her. 

“I’m not,” she says. “I mean, I don’t want it to happen again,” she admits, “but it gave me a chance to fall in love with you.”

Harry’s lips are on hers before she even sees him move, and they break apart only just in time, Cisco not seeming to notice as he rushes into the room, looking over his shoulder into the Cortex.

“Harry, the security system went down, and I was running diagnostics, and it said it had been running for—”

“We know,” Harry says calmly. “You were right. It was a bad idea. I shut it down.”

Cisco gapes, then closes his mouth and pulls on a confident facade. “I told you it was a bad idea.” He walks back into the Cortex still complaining, and Harry looks at Caitlin.

“I should go make sure it stays shut down,” Harry says, “and maybe even figure out exactly what happened. Do you mind if Cisco knows about the time loop?”

Caitlin shakes her head. “That’s fine. Don’t tell him about  _ us _ yet, though,” she adds, remembering Cisco’s reaction to the hand holding.

Harry nods, smiling fondly, and Caitlin isn’t sure what prompts it at first. “‘Us,’” he repeats. She smiles back at him and checks to make sure Cisco isn’t watching before she presses a quick kiss to his cheek.

“Go make sure it’s shut down, and then we’re leaving early.”

He complies, and he and Cisco make quick work of dismantling the system while Cisco quizzes Caitlin on the time she was stuck. Once it’s permanently disabled, Caitlin and Harry make their way to the exit. Caitlin takes a deep breath, taking Harry’s hand in hers.

“Ready?” he asks.

“Ready,” she agrees, and she takes a step forward. Her foot connects with the pavement of the parking lot, and she looks up at Harry, beaming. “It worked!”

She’s pretty sure she’s ready to sleep for about a week, and she’s not convinced there won’t be any side effects from the extended time in the time loop, but Caitlin made it. She’s out, and she’s with Harry, who is looking at her like he can’t wait for them to spend all their tomorrows together.

She can’t blame him; she’s pretty excited about it, too. The best part of the time loop, she decides, is afterward, when you get to move on with your life, loved one by your side.


End file.
